Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy Last Monday in December as well as last day of 2012! Happy New Year's Eve. Thank you tremendously for reading The Qwillery in 2012. I'm hoping for a calm 2013 and wish you all a New Year filled with joy, success and much good reading!

The second installment of the original urban fantasy series starring human chameleon Ciel Halligan

Ciel Halligan, an aura adaptor with a chameleon-like ability to step into the lives of her clients and fix their problems for them — as them — is working a job at the National Zoo with her boyfriend, Billy, and his ten-year-old sister, Molly. It's supposed to be a quick fix, giving her time to decide if it's wise to pursue the romantic relationship her charming scoundrel of a best friend wants, or if she should give Mark, the CIA spook she's crushed on since hormones first rattled her pubescent brain, a chance to step up to the plate.

Molly has already begun to show signs of being an adaptor herself. She's young for it, but she's always been precocious, so it's not impossible. What is impossible is her taking on the form of the baby orangutan she touches — adaptors can only project human auras. Until now, apparently. Worse, Molly is stuck in ape form. She can't change herself back.

Escaping from the zoo with their new baby orang, Ciel and Billy head for NYC and the only person they know can help: Ciel's brother James, a non-adaptor scientist who's determined to crack the aura adaptor genetic code. But when Billy winds up in jail, accused of attempted murder, Ciel begins to suspect Molly's unusual adapting ability is more than just a fluke. Who's been experimenting on Molly, and what do they hope to gain? And will Ciel survive to find out?

Experience the romance and danger of running with the werewolves in this urban fantasy.

Andrew Dare has found his mate in Silver, but they haven’t found the pack they can call home. Some of his old friends think he should return and challenge Roanoke for leadership of all the werewolf packs on the East Coast. But Andrew has baggage—his violent history with the packs of Spain and the rumors of his lack of control. And then there’s Silver—the werewolf who has lost her wild self to a monster’s assault, and who can no longer shift forms. But perhaps together they can overcome all the doubters.

The second book in this wonderful urban fantasy series plunges readers into the world of the shape-shifter packs who live hidden among us.

As a Level Eight telepath, I am the best police interrogator in the department. But I’m not a cop—I never will be—and my only friend on the force, Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino, is avoiding me because of a telepathic link I created by accident.

And I might not even be an interrogator for much longer. Our boss says unless I pull out a miracle, I’ll be gone before Christmas. I need this job, damn it. It’s the only thing keeping me sane.

Parts for illegal Tech—the same parts used to bring the world to its knees in the Tech Wars sixty years ago—are being hijacked all over the city. Plus Cherbino's longtime nemesis, a cop killer, has resurfaced with a vengeance. If I can stay alive long enough, I just might be able to prove my worth, once and for all...

Jean-Michel La Grenouille has a lot going for him. He's a prince. Handsome. Filthy rich. And definitely charming. But he also spent his first few years as a fly-catching, pond-dwelling frog. All that saved him was the kiss of The One, the girl who saw nobility through his slimy form and fell into True Love. Okay, fine. Technically she was a toddler who tried to eat him, but whatever. The curse broke, and as long as he finds and marries her by his 30th birthday, he's a free man.

Trouble is, he's going to be 30 in ten days, and he's getting some seriously cold-blooded feet. He's pretty sure Princess Sleeping Beauty is The One. But his best man has some villain issues, his in-laws-to-be belong in a really special castle, and a smoking-hot lady biker named Lollie Bliss has him rethinking all this happily-ever-after stuff. Oh, and he may have accidentally put out a hit on his blushing bride. Oopsie.

Lena Todd is the perfect spy. Nobody suspects the flirtatious debutante could be a rebel against London’s vicious elite—not even the ruthless Will Carver, the one man she can’t twist around her little finger.

Will Carver, is more than man, he’s a verwolfen and he wants nothing to do with the dangerous beauty who drives him to the very edge of control. But when he finds Lena in possession of a coded letter, he realizes she’s in a world of trouble. To protect her, he’ll have to seduce the truth from her before it’s too late.

What do you do after you’ve saved the world—and nobody believes you?
Amber is a teenage runaway, hiding out in Los Angeles, who is also a daughter of the wolf kind. And, not long ago, she had her own personal demon. Richard was her servant, her lover, and a hellish force bound to the earth against his will. Together they turned back the World Snake that threatened to destroy the city—and she had granted Richard his freedom.
Now Amber is alone, but nobody accepts that she has truly shed her demon. Many still fear the World Snake and seek to capture the demon’s power for their own purposes, unaware that Richard has already departed the mortal realm. Amber finds herself hunted, in both wolf and human forms, by cultists, illusionists, raisers of power, and even an evil veterinarian.
Saving the world was one thing. To save herself Amber may have to call back her fearsome demon lover, who is no longer bound to obey her. . . .

Saturday, December 29, 2012

It's time for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for COVER OF THE YEAR!

As part of this year's Debut Author Challenge I thought it would be fun for you to choose a favorite cover from each month's debut novels. Nowthe 12 monthly winners are pitted against each other for you to choose the 2012 Debut Novel Cover of the Year.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Please welcome Cassandra Rose Clarke to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Guest Blogs. The Mad Scientist's Daughter, Cassandra's adult debut, will be published January 29, 2013 in the US and Canada.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Measure of a Man,” Data is put on trial to determine whether or not he is property of Starfleet. Captain Picard argues that viewing Data as an object rather than a person will eventually lead to Starfleet mass-producing a race of slaves. Starfleet (being Starfleet) rules that Data is a person.

In the Alien movies, the opposite ruling holds sway. Weyland-Yutani manufactures robots that do exactly as they are programmed, and there doesn’t seem to be much (by which I mean any) moral discussion about whether or not androids are people. Everyone basically treats them as sophisticated computers.

You really can’t write robot stories without escaping Isaac Asimov’s three laws, to the point that a fictional robot being or not being “three laws safe” is as intrinsic to its robot-ness as being made of electronic parts. However, the more interesting robot question for me has always been the issue of why people create robots in the first place, and the implications of that creation, which is why I find those two robot backdrops — Alien and Star Trek — so interesting in the diametric approaches.

Now, the “created being” trope is a well-established one in Western literature, with both Pinocchio and Frankenstein (and a myriad of others!) making the English class circuits. In both cases, a man creates life and can not, in way or another, control it — because that created life wants the same freedom its creator has. The human race has a long history of dehumanizing those they wish to deny freedom (and insert any definition of “freedom” here), and I think the robot stories of science fiction are a way of coming to terms with that history (and present). In Star Trek, Starfleet rejects that way of thinking, hoping to move forward into a brighter future. Weyland-Yutani embraces it, and that’s why they’re an evil space corporation.

Because I tend to view robot stories as primarily about freedom, Asimov’s three laws have never appealed to me. After all, he took a complex moral question and solved it like an engineer. Weirdly, it was actually the movie Aliens that first got me thinking about the problems with the three laws. Bishop assures Ripley that he’s reliable and then quotes the first law at her, but he doesn’t call it the first law — he calls it a behavioral inhibitor. Which is an unsettling, even upsetting, way of phrasing it. It’s also accurate.

He looks and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task now is to tutor Cat. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Finn is her guardian, her constant companion… and more.

But when the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world.

Following her acclaimed Young Adult debut for our sister imprint Strange Chemistry, The Assassin’s Curse, the very talented Cassandra Rose Clarke moves on to more adult themes, in a heartbreaking story of love, loss … and robots.

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.

To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks — all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic, and the growing romantic tension between them.

Cassandra Rose Clarke is a speculative fiction writer living amongst the beige stucco and overgrown pecan trees of Houston, Texas. She graduated in 2006 from The University of St. Thomas with a bachelor’s degree in English, and in 2008 she completed her master’s degree in creative writing at The University of Texas at Austin. Both of these degrees have served her surprisingly well.

During the summer of 2010, she attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in Seattle. She was also a recipient of the 2010 Susan C. Petrey Clarion Scholarship Fund.

Lucifer and his army triumphed at Armageddon, leaving humans and demons living in uncertain peace based on sacrifice and strict laws. It is up to those with mixed demon and human blood, the Host, to prevent society from falling into anarchy.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in memory to wield the destructive waning magic that is used to maintain order among the demons. Her unique abilities, paired with a lack of control and reluctance to kill, have branded her as an outsider from her peers. Only her powerful lover, Ari Carmine, and a roguish and mysterious Angel, Rafe Sinclair, support her unconventional ways.

When Noon is shipped off to a remote outpost to investigate several unusual disappearances, a task which will most likely involve trying and killing the patron demon of that area, it seems Luck is not on her side. But when the outpost settlers claim that an ancient and evil foe has stepped out of legend to commit the crimes, Noon realizes that she could be facing something much worse than she ever imagined…

In this brilliant new novel in the Deadglass series, a fierce young woman’s quest entangles her in an apocalyptic endgame–and unexpected desire…

Grace Mercer’s unmatched wraith-killing ability made her the unofficial defender of a city shattered by supernatural catastrophe. So there’s no way she’ll allow the new regent of Seattle’s most powerful dragon shifter clan to “protect” her from a vicious evil stalking the ruined streets–and keep her from the freedom she’s risked everything to earn. Leif’s science-honed instincts tell him Grace is the key to keeping shifters and humans safe. But helping this wary fighter channel her untapped power is burning away the dragon’s sensual self-control and putting a crucial alliance at risk. Soon the only chance Leif and Grace will have to save their world will be a dangerously fragile link that could forever unite their souls…or consume all in a storm of destruction.

Four years after the horrific events in Leadville, a young woman from England, Victoria Dawes, sets into motion a series of events that will lead Cora and herself out into the New Mexico desert in pursuit of Anaba, a Navajo witch bent on taking revenge for the atrocities committed against her people.

In the never-ending saga that is my love-hate relationship with Robson Trowbridge, I, half-Were Hedi Peacock, have had a change of heart. Ever since I shoved Trowbridge through the Gates of Merenwyn, I’ve been the leader of the pack—hard to believe, right? The thing is: I’m half-Fae. So even though my Were side is ready to heed the call of the wild, the other part of me is desperate to take flight. And much as it pains me to admit it, life without Trowbridge is really starting to were me down…

I AM WERE, HEAR ME ROAR.

To make matters worse, the wolves of Creemore want my blood—and the North American Council of Weres wants me dead. So I’m just counting the days until Trowbridge returns from the other realm…and comes to my brave rescue…and becomes my alpha mate. Wishful thinking? Of course it is. But given all the mess I’ve been through already, what’s the harm in doing a little bit of daisy-plucking? Besides, Trowbridge owes me bigtime. A girl can dream.

Monday, December 24, 2012

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Caridad Pineiro to The Qwillery as part of her Hurricane Sandy NJ Relief Campaign and Blog Tour.

From now until March 1, 2013, Caridad is donating 100 percent of her proceeds from The Prince's Gamble to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund to help the folks who are still suffering from the effects of the Hurricane Sandy.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Friday night as I rushed to catch the train home, I noticed others scurrying about thanks to the Christmas rush. The short, but cute, stubble-faced guy heading to the Amtrak ticket window as the speakers overhead crackled an “All aboard.” A young couple arguing, hand movements sharp and determined.

Yards away, a little old lady, barely 4’8”, dodged and weaved between the people in the crowd, her bob of silver hair bouncing beneath her shocking pink beret. A quick swerve around the corner by the donut shop and she was almost gone, but the sweet smells of just fried dough lingered in her place while visions of sugar glazed donuts tempted me as they glimmered beneath the lights in the display case.

As the last bit of pink beret faded from sight, I thought, “It’s Friday night. Maybe she has a hot date.” Or maybe she's rushing home to family for the holidays.

In New York City, where an escalator just means you can walk up the stairs even faster, rushing to somewhere is just a way of life. Not that NYC is so different from many other places. As a whole, our way of life seems to be rush, rush, rush.

We’re so busy rushing to somewhere that we’ve lost our to ability to experience the where we are, much less remember the where we’ve been sometimes.

It’s the old stop and smell the roses adage.

As a writer, you almost have to stop and smell the roses a great deal of the time because one of the greatest tools a writer can have is her power of observation. The ability to remember the details of people, places and things. It’s those little details that breathe life into our characters and stories.

Next time, stop and think about the scene that you are going to write. Think about the smells in the air. The feel of the location and the noises (or lack of noises) that surround you. What do you see as you stand there, experiencing the where you are? Do you taste anything as you stand there? Where had you been before and was it different?

The five senses, or as many of them as you can possibly include, should be present in that scene to bring it alive for readers. When you enhance the descriptions by infusing them with your personal observations, it brings a scene to life in a way that can’t be accomplished just by research.

If you’re a writer, stop rushing to somewhere and take the time to experience what’s around you.

For everyone else, stop and smell the roses anyway! Time is too short to always be rushing to somewhere without savoring the here and now.

P.S. – Do you think that little old lady in the pink beret will ever make into a story?

On this Christmas Eve, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Prince Alexander Ivanov is scrambling to save his reputation and his livelihood. One of the Russian Nights Casino's hostesses has disappeared, and his business is suddenly under investigation by the FBI for associations with the mob and money laundering.

Special Agent Kathleen Martinez has no patience with rich, entitled aristocrats, especially one like Alexander Ivanov whom she believes is involved in the vicious human trafficking ring which she'd tried—and failed—to shut down two years earlier. With a second chance to bring him to justice, she goes undercover in the casino, but instead of facing the villain she expected, she finds herself battling a sizzling attraction to the man.

Now, forced to work together to trace the source of the illegal activities, the danger—and the passion between them—grows out of control, and they slowly begin to realize the biggest danger isn’t to the casino, it’s to their lives…and to their hearts.

USA TODAY and NY Times bestselling author Caridad Pineiro has nearly forty published novels and novellas. In 2007, a year marked by six releases from Harlequin and Pocket Books, Pineiro was selected as the 2007 Golden Apple Author of the Year by the New York City Romance Writers. In 2012, Pineiro was a finalist for the romance industry’s top award, the RITA. Past awards won include Top Fantasy Books of 2005 and 2006 by CATALINA Magazine and Top Nocturne of 2006 by Cataromance. In addition, Caridad’s books have received award nominations for RT Book Reviews, Affaire de Couer, Harlequin Readers’ Choice, RIO Reviewers and SingleTitles.com Top Contemporary Romance.

Caridad has appeared at BookExpo America on several occasions, including helping launch Kensington’s Encanto multicultural line and Silhouette’s Nocturne series.

Caridad has appeared on various television shows, such as the FOX News Early Edition in New York, and articles featuring her novels have been published in several leading newspapers and magazines, from the New York Daily News, and LATINA to the Star Ledger. For more information on Caridad, please visit www.caridad.com or www.rebornvampirenovels.com.

What: One commenter will win a digital copy of The Fifth Kingdom from Caridad!

Dr. Deanna Vasquez hasn't spoken to her mother in years, not since the renowned archaeologist abandoned her family in her quest to find the lost tomb of Montezuma. When CIA agent Bill Santana shows up in her classroom with the news that her mother has been abducted by terrorists, Deanna has to help in any way she can.

Bill needs Deanna's expertise to determine the location of her mother's latest find, before her kidnappers do. He fears whatever mysteries the tomb holds could be deadly in the wrong hands. In an effort to make contact with the terrorist cell, Bill accompanies Deanna to Mexico posing as her fiancé--a ruse made doubly dangerous because of the very real heat between them...

How: Answer Caridad's question:

Do you think that little old lady in the pink beret will ever make into a story?

Please remember - if you don't answer the questions your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1) Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2) Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

There are a total of 3 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry) and Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry). This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook or Twitter mentions. You MUST leave a way to contact you.

Who and When: The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Monday, January 7, 2013. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

I finally had a chance to look at this week's comics and found something incredibly awesome. The Retailer Incentive cover for Transformers: Robots in Disguise 12 is a homage to the cover of David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Mars. The comic cover features the Autobot Arcee, the most androgynous of the Autobots. The comic cover art is by Casey W. Coller with colors by Joanna Lafuente.

For a lot of information about the album cover artwork head over to The Ziggy Stardust Companion here.

The 2012 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars winner for December is Trey Garrison's Black Sun Reich (The Spear of Destiny: Part One) with 48% of the votes cast. Black Sun Reich was published by HarperVoyager on December 18, 2012

The final results:

The December Debut Covers

Thank you to everyone who voted, Tweeted, and participated. The 2012 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will continue soon with voting for 2012 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - COVER OF THE YEAR!

Question: Has there ever been a time when your creative muse abandoned you? If so, please tell us how you got out of your funk and if not, feel free to ask any question that comes to mind about me or my writing process.

SdyLion who said...

I write our annual Christmas letter every year. I was better at it in the beginning, rhyming the words and all, but now, I just tell it like it is. I feel like I am either brimming with creativity when it comes to writing, or I am just empty.

Question: I'm a huge fan of e-novella prequels and e-novellas in general. What about you?

erin who said...

Thanks for a great post and congrats to Alexa on the newest release! Sounds fantastic :)

I've actually really become a fan of prequel novellas. It gives me a taste of the world and what to expect, which is great if it's a new to me author. Plus, the pricing is pretty good and for just a dollar or two, you get almost a 1/3 of a book! Before my kindle, I'd have never searched out novellas but now that they are becoming more available, I've been gobbling them up :)

In 1944, as waves of German ninjas parachute into Kent, Britain’s best hopes for victory lie with a Spitfire pilot codenamed ‘Ack-Ack Macaque.’ The trouble is, Ack-Ack Macaque is a cynical, one-eyed, cigar-chomping monkey, and he’s starting to doubt everything, including his own existence.

A century later, in a world where France and Great Britain merged in the late 1950s and nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, ex-journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband and stole her electronic soul. In Paris, after taking part in an illegal break-in at a research laboratory, the heir to the British throne goes on the run. And all the while, the doomsday clock ticks towards Armageddon...

I can't remember the last time that I had so much fun reading a novel. Gareth L. Powell has penned a fantastic Alternate History/Science Fiction novel with memorable characters and a wonderfully inventive plot.

As noted in the book description, the novel is set both during World War II and in the latter half of the 21st Century in a world where Great Britain and France are under the British Monarchy*. I found the unified France and Britain concept in the novel extremely well done. It's really easy to accept the what-if of the world in Ack-Ack Macaque.

There is mystery, murder, intrigue, a runaway Prince, and scientists who think they are doing the right thing for humanity (we know where that leads). The novel moves at a breathtaking pace from place to place revealing ever more about the characters as well as the cause for the murders.

I can't say enough about the title character, Ack-Ack Macaque. He is simply superb. He's a simian of action, a larger than life hero! I adore him. Victoria, the Prince, and the other main characters were all appealing and interesting. They have difficult choices to make and you will root for them, as I did, to find the killer, figure out what is going on, and hopefully save the world.

Ack-Ack Macaque is over-the top and action-packed with an ending that is both exciting and ultimately satisfying. Gareth L. Powell has crafted a crisply written, engrossing and very entertaining novel.

A side note: The book includes extras at the end including the short story, Ack-Ack Macaque, that is the first appearance of the monkey Ack-Ack Macaque. It was published in Interzone and then in The Last Reef, a collection of short stories by Gareth L. Powell. I'm also happy to note that a sequel to Ack-Ack Macaque, Hive Monkey, will be coming in 2014!

*As noted in a recent interview with Mr. Powell, "union" talks between the two nations actually took place in the 1950s, but obviously the union did not occur.

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In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, The Qwillery would like everyone to know that most books that are reviewed at the The Qwillery are provided for free by the publisher or author unless otherwise noted.